ANALYSIS: Corker, Flake draw line in the sand in questioning Trump's fitness ....

ANALYSIS: Corker, Flake draw line in the sand in questioning Trump's fitness for office

By Rick Klein
Oct 24, 2017, 6:03 PM ET

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., in choosing to revive and escalate his critique of President Trump, has crossed a critical threshold in questioning the president’s fitness for the office. The fact that Corker is not alone in his party — and that is a fact — has implications for Trump’s ability to govern from here.

Enter Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who chose the same day as Corker’s rebuke to shock the political world by announcing he wasn’t running for reelection. He’s retiring because he doesn’t like what it means to be a Republican in the Trump era, and doesn’t like what he sees happening to the country and the presidency.

“We must never meekly accept the daily sundering of our country - the personal attacks, the threats against principles, freedoms, and institutions, the flagrant disregard for truth or decency, the reckless provocations,” Flake declared in a remarkable speech on the Senate floor.

Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is now on the record saying that Trump is “debasing our nation,” engaging in “constant non-truth telling” and even “kneecapping” public servants in his administration who are trying to avert war.

And Flake has recorded for history – and the consideration of his colleagues – that he finds Trump’s conduct to be “reckless, outrageous, and undignified.”

This is not primarily about policy or even personality at this point. It’s different even from fretting, as Corker did a few weeks ago, that Trump is leading the nation “on the path to World War III.”

This is a senior Republican leader and a one-time advocate for Trump coming close to declaring he is not fit for the presidency.

And it’s another veteran conservative flatly saying that the country cannot accept this presidency as a new “normal.”

Corker didn’t answer direct questions today about whether he believes Trump should be removed from office. But he’s signaling that he regrets his decision to endorse and campaign for Trump, revealing the kind of intraparty schism that may be too deep to ever repair.

Trump an ‘utterly untruthful’ president who’s ‘debasing’ the US, GOP Sen. Bob Corker says

President Donald Trump and Sen. Bob Corker escalate their Twitter feud

“There were many people — I was one of those — who hoped he would rise to the occasion and aspire to lead our nation instead of dividing it,” Corker told reporters today. “He hasn’t risen to the occasion. At this point I realize what we’re dealing with, I think like most Americans.”

Corker, now freed of political considerations, with his impending retirement, claims to be giving voice to concerns shared by some colleagues who are afraid of the repercussions of speaking out.

Flake is now in a similar position. It’s telling – and perhaps chilling – that the senators who are poised to be most forceful in standing up to Trump are also leaving Congress in 14 months.

Corker is playing Trump’s game to some extent. #AlertTheDayCareStaff is quite a hashtag from a sitting United States senator. But he’s also making clear he’s doing so more out of sadness than relishing the moment.

Trump’s responses to Corker, on Twitter, of course, have ignored his wife’s admonishments against name-calling in public life. The president is calling Corker “liddle,” a “lightweight” and “incompetent” and blaming him for President Obama’s Iran nuclear deal and claiming — falsely, according to the senator — that Corker chose retirement only after Trump refused to endorse him for re-election.

From the White House podium today, press secretary Sarah Sanders dismissed the critiques offered by Corker and Flake as “petty comments,” suggesting that the nation would be more successful if Republicans would ge tin line behind Trump.

Trump is framing the battles as part of his ongoing war with the establishment of both parties. “People like liddle' Bob Corker have set the U.S. way back. Now we move forward!” Trump tweeted today.

But this is different from the Twitter wars that Trump has taken to a form of art. This is not a fight with Rosie O’Donnell or Arnold Schwarzenegger or even with one of the many campaign-season rivals whose physical appearance Trump relished mocking.

Trump today had lunch with senators, with his last best shot at a legislative accomplishment this year on the line. Corker and Flake have revealed concerns that cut far deeper than that, though — with questions about the president’s ability to do the job now in the air on Capitol Hill.

This gets to the heart of governing and what it means to be president. Two senators may be the focus of these feuds, but their words carry meanings that are much more profound.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/analy...ry?id=50684528

These two Senators have their own opinions for their own reasons. Neither of them has done or even tried to do anything to save our country, to protect our citizens, our jobs, our borders, our incomes, our wages, our security, our safety. Corker as Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee has done everything in his power and position to pander to Iran, go easy on North Korea Nuclear Weapons, but poke Russia, an ole ally and one of the most important nations on this planet that has desperately wanted a new and improved relationship with our country and citizens. Flake promotes open borders, amnesty for illegal aliens, and like Corker and supported the TPP, and every other free trade agreement prior Presidents shoved in their faces that sucks jobs, industries, investment out of the United States.

These are not people to listen to. These are people who need to resign their Senate seats and get out of our Senate. They both need to do this post haste so their state Governors can appoint replacements. Corker and Flake are the very SWAMP creatures Trump ran to remove from DC. These are little men who can dish it out but can't take it, they are not statesmen, they aren't even honorable men, they've betrayed the American People and the United States every day they've been in government and refuse even when given the Agenda, even when provided the new leadership in the White House, even as the rubber meets the road to do what is necessary to fix our poor struggling nation, even with all of that on a silver platter handed to them by Donald Trump, they still refuse to get on the Trump Train and Make America Great Again. Why? Because they don't want to. Fixing our country wasn't why they went to DC to begin with, maintaining the status quo of failure is why they ran for office and Trump has called their bluff, and like the bad poker players they are, they have folded their tents and run like the silly rabbits they've proved themselves to be.

Corker and Flake are speaking from a position of 'sour grapes' because both of them knew they were facing a losing battle in their respective primaries. Instead of taking the high road and bowing out gracefully, they've decided to take the low road and cause as much disruption as possible with their childish like tantrums. When you open the hood of this wreck, I suspect you'll find part of the reason they fell out of favor with their constituents can be directly attributed to their positions on immigration and the globalist mentality they share. Just my opinion.

I guess it hurts to see your chosen career path come to such a nasty end. However, both Flake and Corker really have nobody to blame but themselves. Let this be a lesson to all holders of elected office ... LISTEN TO YOUR CONSTITUENTS and actively do their bidding! Favoring special interest groups and pursuing your own personal agenda just isn't going to cut it.